The Tim McGraw fan who has caused quite the stir over the last couple of weeks after video surfaced of her ripping Tim McGraw’s jeans and then Tim rearing back and slapping her across the face or head is now saying she might sue. Jesslyn Taylor and her lawyer, Georgia personal injury attorney Eric Hertz, say that Tim McGraw acted too aggressively, and that at the least Jesslyn deserves a public apology. Hertz says his client is furious that Tim McGraw is “slinging mud” and publicly humiliating her.

The incident happened in Atlanta on 7-13 at Aaron’s Ampitheatre at Lakewood, and was captured by numerous camera phones. Clearly seen in the video, a woman in the crowd reaches out to touch Tim multiple times before grabbing Tim’s jeans near his left pocket and causing a large rip. When the video surfaced, it outraged for some to see Tim slap the woman so aggressively, while others said he was justified after the fan touched him numerous times, and eventually ripped his jeans right before the slap. A spokesperson for McGraw said about the incident, ““He instinctively swatted to try and keep them from ripping his jeans (which they succeeded at doing), and so he could get to more fans who were trying to slap hands with him before the end of the show. He didn’t know who had grabbed him and was trying to keep his pants from being torn.” Tim was singing his song “Truck Yeah” as an encore performance at the time.

Tim McGraw did not personally respond to the incident until eight days later when he told ET Canada:

Sometimes things can lose context and perspective. I reacted in an instinctive, defensive way from my perspective of what was going on. I think it was an unfortunate situation, I think all the way around. But it happened, it happened in a split second, it was pure instinctive reaction, I think you just got to move on. It is one of those things that happen, nobody feels good about it, but there’s nothing that could be done about it. You are in that position, you are out there, you are vulnerable, things happen and sometimes you react. There’s nothing to be said about it.

Jesslyn Taylor was removed from the crowd by security immediately after the incident happened and detained at the venue. Eventually she was let go. Atlanta police have said no charges will be filed in the incident but Jesslyn could still file a civil suit.

32 Comments

Ron
July 27, 2014 @
8:48 am

I’m on McGraw’s side on this one. In today’s society, I’d be leery of any fans grabbing me.

The woman and the lawyer see potential dollar signs. McGraw could countersue but I doubt he’ll need to. This will likely get as far as the baseball fan trying to sue because he was shown on the screen and broadcast sleeping while the announcers laughed at him.

Agreed. It’s not like she was innocently holding her hand up and touching his leg. She was clearly grabbing for a more…personal…area. That’s when Tim slapped at her after she ripped his jeans trying to get at his…well, you know.

Oh puleeeeze… Tim had no problem with a woman slapping his ass at least 4 times, as I count it, two seconds before the beatdown happened (clearly seen in the bottom video while he’s walking the platform). So don’t pass this off like he doesn’t know what he’s walking into! I would argue he *wants* this type of attention. There’s no reason to venture that closely into the crowd unless you do. He wants legions of women screaming, grabbing him and slapping his ass. It’s instant gratification for his delicate ego.

I don’t think the chick was intentionally grabbing for his sack. I think she was just trying to make contact with him and when she did, decided to hold on to him. It’s no different than the thousands of times chicks held onto Garth’s ankle/s and wouldn’t let him go. Garth laughed it off. Tim chose to be a bitch. As long as security is doing their job and nobody rushes the stage to assault him, it’s all in good fun. And I’m sorry, if you’re worried about your jeans getting ripped, Tim, don’t wear old-assed, super-thin, ALREADY RIPPED jeans into a throng of adoring women.

He always walks away and I’ve seen him stay away from an entire section for the evening if someone is inappropriately trying to touch or rushing the stage and causing people to get crushed. His time in the crowd slapping hands is minutes and infrequent. What he did that night, he hasn’t done at the other shows. You can try to make him out to be a whore based on his image, his music, whatever. But it’s not the way he operates at his shows.

That’s bull! I don’t care who you are, no one should be grabbing you to the point you are ripping clothes off that person! And now for that fan to get an attorney! This is what’s wrong with society!!!!

Is this what happens when a performer makes himself the product, rather than making his music the product? That is putting more focus on his image and brand than the quality of the music. Opening himself up to being idolized and worshipped? Just throwing out thoughts on this.

That aside, I think he stepped over the line. She definitely isn’t innocent here though either and I don’t want to put too much fault on Tim. If he would have just swatted her arm away, there would be no blame on Tim I think. Why go for her head? Stupid reaction, but I think we have all done stupid things in quick reaction.

No grounds for a lawsuit though. She wasn’t physically injured, and her embarrassment (emotional injury) is completely her fault.

I’m with you. Is the woman hurt or injured? If TM was to stoop to her level he could sue her for a $300 pair of jeans. This is the kind of thing that makes a mockery of the criminal justice system.

Also, I don’t blame him for acting that way. In a crowd that size he had no way of knowing who was grabbing him and for what reason. Sure, girls grab at him all the time, but she literally ripped his jeans, and he could have fallen into the crowd to be molested by sex starved soccer moms had she not let go.

The dumb ass b—h (Jesslyn Taylor) was drunk as hell
The dumb drunk ass b—h (Jesslyn Taylor) clearly kept grabbing his pants for no reason
The Atlanta Police department told Tim that has no charges being pressed on
Tim also explained why he did it
Finally 2 weeks later The drunk dumb ass b—h (Jesslyn Taylor) decides to file a lawsuit if he don’t apologize
Tim McGraw has nothing to apologize for but, The drunk dumb ass b—h (Jesslyn Taylor) has to apologize to him about grabbing him

so in possible words I can say this:
JESSLYN TAYLOR YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A DUMB DRUNK ASS P***Y, S**T, C**K GRABBING, MOTHER[BLEEP]ING WHITE TRASH WH*E IN THE TOWN OF ATLANTA GEORGIA AND CERTAINLY YOU’RE NOT A TIM MCGRAW FAN

There I think I made my point about Jesslyn Taylor being a rude Mother[BLEEP]ing b—h 🙂

I just watched the video. I would say Tim was in the right when he slapped her hand away. However he crossed the line when after he slapped the hand away, he made it a point to reach out and slap her. The instinctive part, slapping the hand away, makes sense. It is the choice he made afterward where he becomes at fault.

What is with people thinking you have “no right” to slap someone??? Sure as hell you do. Does that make it morally correct/acceptable? Or legal? Maybe/maybe not, but you sure as hell have the right/freewill to slap anyone.

People talk about this as if it was something that happened while Taylor and McGraw just crossed paths in some shopping mall. The guy was on stage performing and she crossed the line of fan behavior. Just because guys grab women all the time inappropriately, or others were grabbing him… whatever stupie excuse you make for her actions… she crossed the line and there is a consequence for that.

Now, yes, there is a consequence for McGraw’s reaction, but “rights’ don’t have a damn thing to do with this.

Have to love the legal system sometimes, lady acts completely inappropriately and is now trying to cash in.

I felt some sympathy for her, but now that she is seeking attention and getting an attorney I feel none. Take your public embarrassment, learn your lesson and start to act like an adult and let it blow over. Instead she is trying to cash in…screw her.

Don’t lose faith in the legal system Mike. Getting a lawyer is not the legal system. They are not in the legal system yet, and I highly doubt they will be. Of course if a suit is filed, it is just window dressing. The legal system will work if she tries to sue. No jury will ever award her anything significant. Her lawyer is looking for a couple grand on this and will get it through a nuisance value settlement. None of that has anything to do with our legal system.

She needs to take responsibility for what she did…say sorry to McGraw rather than lawyer up, and then maybe she will get an apology back from him. You don’t need a lawyer for apologies.

I bet anyone the lawyer sends her to a chiropractor for the standard two months of “medical” treatment for a “whiplash” injury, the chiro. racks up bills of $10K, and they eventually settle this for $15K. Lawyer gets $5K, Chiro. reduces fees to $5K, Taylor gets $5K.
That is how the game works folks. This will never see a lawsuit or courtroom.

I don’t know why some Tim McGraw’s fans are condoning his behavior or siding with him on this. I live in Nashville, TN and I see the country music stars ALL OVER the place b/c they live here. Trust me, they are… at the end of the day …just people… who grocery shop, go out to eat at local restaurants, drive their kids to school,etc….they just happen to have a talent that affords them to entertain people and make a lot of money doing it…but I say money or fame or not… a man …NO MAN…should hit a woman. He could have easily had her restrained or removed. I have a hard time seeing how a 200 pound 6 foot or so man could justify smacking a woman in the face because she grabbed his jeans at a show : o I went to tons of concerts in the 80’s when huge bands were playing..very rowdy shows…where the singers and band members had women grabbing them all over the place…I never saw a band member or singer smack a chick in the face. EVER. Country music has been sucking lately with all it’s pop studio creation songs and this brings it to a new low : ( Think I will break out my traditional country music CD’s and change the channel when Tim McGraw’s songs are played. Bad choice on his part (and yes he did have choices here) I hope he gets the help he needs if I were Faith I’d get the heck out of that relationship and be running for the “hills”…no pun intended.

I wouldn’t play the size card. He has a very slight build – I’d say 165 lbs, maybe 170, max. She looks to have about 40 lbs., maybe more, on him. Lean and strong yes, but her hands on his jeans almost at waist and pulling down was not cool. If, as she says, her finger “got stuck” in a small hole at his front pocket, I would ask, “and how did your finger get there?”

Your right not to agree with his reaction, but to say he’s “just people” but excuse someone fondling his ass and grabbing hard enough to almost topple is pure bull shit. No one, any where, any time, any fucking decade you think relevant should be expected to put up with groping. Double standard b.s. We have to stop excusing women who behave this way just because…

You are making some assumptions here and looking at this with hindsight.

1. A performer on stage or athlete on a field has no clue what some fan coming at them has in mind. In fact, they don’t even know if the person coming at them is a female or male. The person grabbing/cheering them, etc… if that is all just a cover to do something sinister.
Do we need to recount events where performers and athletes were injured by crazed fans?

2. Tim is clearly not proud of the event, and just because you support his reaction doesn’t mean you support hitting or violence against women. This wasn’t a situation where a fan crossed his path in a grocery store and said hello and tried to hug him and he belted her.

3. Yea, why doesn’t his wife pick up the family they built together over that last 15yrs. and take off because some random fan crossed the line and her husband reacted to protect himself from any number of unknowns.

I would say that everyone that is criticizing him are folks that have never been in the situation and have the benefit of looking at it well after and thinking about it. I prefer to give him a little credit based on his history, that he didn’t enjoy hitting her and doesn’t plan on beating his wife.

In one sense, the woman was assaulting/provoking Tim McGraw and technically engaging in sexual harrassment (if this had happened to a female singer everyone would be on her side for smacking the guy for such aggressive, inappropriate physical contact and the guy would probably have been prosecuted). In addition, you can see in the video that he almost fell because she was pulling on his jeans which could have caused him or other fans harm.
On the other hand, I do think it may have been a bit aggressive to smack someone in the head or face… but my judgement on this one goes to the Tim McGraw as he was put in a position where he obviously felt he had to deflect/defend his dignity, safety and the safety of his fans. This woman should be ashamed of herself and it should be her to offer a public apology.

BTW: I’m a woman and even I am sick to death of this double standard crap. Women… don’t do to men what you don’t want them doing to you. And while I’m at it, stop complaining about the toilet seat being down as well. The men have to lift the seat, why should women complain about putting it down?!!!! If you want equality then accept equal treatment.